Monday, August 01, 2005

One of my posts below references an act of vandalism to the home of a family who had lost their son-in-law, Pfc. Timothy Hines, in Iraq. The little bastards who committed these acts were 15 and 13, and apparently decided to do this as part of a vandalism spree:

After their arrests, the boys were released to their parents. Police and Wessel family members said Thursday they were confident that the fire was a random vandalism and not a political statement against the invasion of Iraq.

On Thursday, Jim Wessel [father-in-law to Pfc. Hines] stood outside the police department and asked the community to show no ill will to the boys or their families.

"We feel that this crime was a random act of violence. It is our understanding that the juveniles who have been accused in this case were unaware of the circumstances surrounding our family," Jim Wessel said.

So in this case, do we blame the boys for destroying someone else's grieving process, do we blame the parents for not inculcating their sons with things like respect for other people's property (not to mention at least a little bit of respect for the flag), or do we blame society?

My vote is for the first and second choices. With luck, the boys will get to spend some time in a juvenile detention facility and pay restitution and their parents will bear the shame brought on by not teaching their children to behave properly.